Members to consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct
record of the meeting held on 14 March 2019.

Minutes:

The
minutes of the meeting held on 14 March 2019 were confirmed as a
true and accurate record and SIGNED by the
Chairman.

7.

Chairman's Announcements

To receive any announcements that the
Chairman may wish to make.

Minutes:

The Chairman stated that he was
honoured to have been elected Chairman of the Group. He felt that
it was a proactive forward thinking forum and that it had the
potential to carry a lot of influence.

8.

Motion 555 (Councillor F W Letch - 8 April 2019) (00:08:00)

To
consider the following Motion referred by the Council to the
Economy Policy Development Group:

“Mel Stride MP recently said: “Central
Devon has market towns with a wonderful variety of high street
shops selling high-quality local produce and offering a range of
services. Many are doing very well, but others face stiff
competition from out of town and online retailers. I know
that the margin between success and failure can be very small and
even a small increase in the number of people who make it a
priority to shop locally more often can make a big
difference.”

High Street Saturday was on 16th of
March. I propose that:- In order to
encourage the high street shops in Mid Devon's 3 main towns, this
council will not charge for Saturday parking in the long stay
car-parks of Tiverton, Cullompton and
Crediton.”

Please note: Having considered the above Motion
the Policy Development Group are asked to consider whether this
Motion should either be supported or rejected. This decision will
be referred back to full Council on 24 July
2019.

Minutes:

At
its meeting on 24 April 2019, Council had referred the following
Motion to the Economy Policy Development Group for its
consideration.

Motion 555 (Councillor F W Letch):

“Mel Stride MP recently said: “Central Devon has
market towns with a wonderful variety of high street shops selling
high-quality local produce and offering a range of services. Many
are doing very well, but others face stiff competition from out of
town and on-line retailers. I know that the margin between success
and failure can be very small and even a small increase in the
number of people who make it a priority to shop locally more often
can make a big difference.”

High
Street Saturday was on 16th March. I propose
that:- In order to encourage the high
street shops in Mid Devon’s 3 main towns, this council will
not charge for Saturday parking in the long stay car-parks of
Tiverton, Cullompton and
Crediton.”

Cllr
Letch stated that the original intention behind his Motion had been
for Council to consider offering free parking in the towns on
Saturdays. However, since submitting the Motion he had given more
thought to the whole area of car parking across the district and
now felt that perhaps a better way forward was for the Car Parking
Working Park to reconvene and for it to continue its work bearing
in mind the contents of his Motion in conjunction with car parking
charges generally.

Discussion took place with regard to:

·The considerable amount of work that the Car Parking
Working Group had already undertaken in the previous
Council.

·The amount of income that would be lost if free
parking on every Saturday was to be offered.

·The need to consider all possible options going
forwards.

It
was AGREED that the Car Parking Working Group be
re-established and for it to meet as soon as possible so that a
recommendation could be brought back to the next meeting of this
Group. The members of that Group to comprise of Cllrs D F Pugsley,
R F Radford and for Cllr B Evans to be asked to return as a
co-opted member. It was also requested that Cllrs F Letch and Mrs N
Woollatt be invited to attend the Working Group meeting as
observers.

It
was further AGREED that the Policy Development
Group’s decision as to whether or not to recommend that the
Motion be supported or rejected be postponed until the next meeting
so that this could be considered alongside the recommendation of
the Car Parking Working Group.

To consider a report of the
Group Manager for Performance, Governance and Data
Securityproviding Members with an
update on performance against the corporate plan and local service
targets for 2018/19 as well as providing an update on the key
business risks.

The
Group had before it, and NOTED, a report * from the
Head of Planning & Economic Regeneration providing Members with
an update on performance against the Corporate Plan and local
service targets for 2018/19 as well as providing an update on the
key business risks.

The
contents of the report were outlined with particular reference to
the indicators in relation to the number of empty shops, business
rate accounts, the number of businesses assisted and car park
vends.

Consideration was given to:

·The challenging nature in the way performance
information was presented and the need for officers to receive
feedback from Members in order to try and find a more helpful
format.

·A need to evaluate performance information
retrospectively and to ascertain whether interventions had been
successful; whether projects had been worthwhile and what had
worked and what hadn’t.

It
was AGREED that an item be brought back to the next
meeting providing an evaluation of past projects in this
area.

The
Group had before it, and NOTED, a report * from the
Deputy Chief Executive (S151) presenting the revenue and capital
outturn figures for the financial year 2018/19. The report
contained a number of recommendations that would be made to the
Cabinet at its meeting on 27 June 2019.

The
contents of the report were briefly outlined with discussion
focussing on the following areas:

·The final monitoring report presented to the Group
prior to the election had predicted an end of year deficit of
£65k for the General Fund. However, the final position had
improved by £84k meaning that the General Fund for 2018/19
would finish with an underspend of £19k

·In year financial monitoring throughout 2018/19 had
been very accurate.

·It had been possible to set aside funds to Earmarked
Reserves where needed.

·The recommendation to the Cabinet to carry forward
circa £12m from the 2018/19 capital programme to fund schemes
in the years to come. In addition to this the recommendation to
transfer to earmarked reserves £459k which had been
unspent.

·Market Walk and Fore Street shops in Tiverton. There
had been a number of voids throughout the year but in December 2018
every unit in Market Walk had been occupied although overall rents
had been lower.

·The Collection Fund and how effective the Revenues
section had been in collecting Council Tax and NNDR during
extremely challenging economic times.

·Variances in each of the budget areas falling under
the remit of this Group and the reasons for these being explained
in the appendices to the report.

·This Group did not have control over a large
proportion of the council’s budget and that the larger
variances were due to market forces rather than poor service
delivery.

Notes:

(i)* Report previously circulated; copy attached to the
signed minutes.

(ii)Cllr N V Davey declared a personal interest in that
he is a member of the Moorhayes
Community Association.

The
Group had before it, and NOTED, a report * from the
Head of Planning, Economy and Regeneration informing Members of the
progress with the Connecting the Culm Project.

The
Economic Development Team Leader outlined the contents of the
report explaining that the project was essentially designed to get
a better understanding of the whole catchment area of the River
Culm.

Consideration was given to:

·Whether other water courses would be considered as
well as a need to consider not just flooding issues but the fact
that during dry spells there was insufficient water in these water
courses. In addition to this, there was damage to weirs and silted
up channels requiring ongoing maintenance. Some of these water
courses had heritage value and were a rich habitat for wildlife. It
was confirmed that the whole catchment area would be included in
the project so this would indeed include all
tributaries.

·Questions were asked in relation to the need for
co-ordination between all the partners and stakeholder groups. It
was also essential that the District Council had a strong presence
in this project. It was explained that the project was in the very
early stages and that the main people were not in post yet.
However, once they were, they would be looking not only at flooding
but also water quality, biodiversity and water effectiveness
amongst other issues.

·The end point of the project was to develop ways of
working and to create a management plan for the river. It was
confirmed that the Environment Agency were fully behind this
project. However, a large number of authorities would need to find
a way of working together if the project was to be successful and
these early stages were about finding a way to make this
happen.

·Issues with a historic bridge in Culmstock which needed urgent attention.

·This was a European funded project and Members were
able to access a 200 page document listing what the desired
outcomes were.

·Water run-off from housing developments and the
effect upon water courses.

·The report would also be reported to the Environment
Policy Development Group as this was an issue that was of interest
to both Policy Development Groups.

It
was AGREED that:

a)An update on this project be brought to the next meeting including a timetable
showing the key steps involved and that all Members in the Culm
catchment area be copied into this whether or not they were on this
Group.

b)The Economic Development Team Leader collate a list of Members’ concerns so that
evidence could be brought to the attention of the relevant
authorities.

To
consider a report of the Head of Planning, Economy and Regeneration
updating members on progress with key Economic Development Service
Priorities.

The Economic Development officers will also provide the meeting
with a presentation.

Minutes:

The
Group had before it, and NOTED, a report * of the
Head of Planning, Economy and Regeneration updating Members on
progress with key Economic Development Service
Priorities.

The
Group Manager for Growth, Economy and Delivery informed the Group
about the make-up of his team and explained that an informal
meeting would be arranged so that Members could meet them and
discuss the work programme for the Group for the coming year. He
also provided a brief context to the report by reference to the key
components of the Mid Devon economy and its challenges.

The
objectives and key sectors within the Economic Strategy were
outlined by way of presentation and reference made to projects
under each area. Discussion took place with regard to:

Employment and Skills

·The demand for employment sites was high but there
were not many sites coming forward.

·There had been interest from an international
company wanting to work in Mid Devon and making use of the M5
corridor.

·It was the role of the team to support these
initiatives and to help businesses fulfil their
aspirations.

·It was vitally important to strengthen the
relationship with education providers.

Place

The
Masterplanning process for Crediton
would take place next year. Crediton was experiencing strong
economic and business growth and enquiries were received on a regular basis. However, parts of the
High Street did need regeneration as did the infrastructure around
the town.

Infrastructure

Money was being secured through a Section 106 contribution from
Lidl to facilitate the installation of high quality wireless
internet services to Tiverton town centre as a pilot scheme with
the intention to roll-out across Cullompton and Crediton when suitable funding
becomes available. The question was asked as to whether significant
investment needed to be made in relation to WiFi within the towns when 4G or 5G might suffice.
It was explained that having WiFi
within the towns presented other opportunities such as encouraging
and supporting local businesses. Not all the funding from the Lidl
S106 had been allocated to the installation of WiFi as it contained other measures to support the
town centre.

Hi
Tech, Innovation and Green Energy

The
possible use of the river behind the Town Hall as a source of
useable power was briefly discussed. It was explained that whilst
this was a viable site the cost implications would need to be
examined, however, the amount of power that could potentially be
generated could be used to great effect within the town. Early
estimates show that such a project could generate all of Phoenix
House’s power needs when combined with the solar energy
already captured by the solar roof panels, potentially enabling the
council to utilise a fully carbon-free energy supply. It was
further explained that a group of master’s students had
investigated ecological improvements as well as hydro
engineering.

Agriculture, Food and Drink

More
information would be provided to a future meeting regarding the
destination website.

To agree the start time of meetings for the
remainder of the municipal year.

Minutes:

It
was AGREED to continue to hold meetings of the
Group at 5.30pm for the remainder of the municipal year.

14.

Identification of items for the next meeting (02:24:10)

Members are asked to note that the following items are already
identified in the work programme for the next meeting:

·Performance & Risk for the first quarter of
2019/20

·Financial Monitoring

·Lords Report: ‘Time for a strategy for the
rural economy’

·Cost Recovery & Commercialisation in Growth,
Economy & Delivery

·Business Awards

·Economic Projects update

Note: This item is limited to 10 minutes.
There should be no discussion on the items raised.

Minutes:

In
addition to the items already listed it was requested that the
following be on the agenda for the next or a future
meeting:

·Update on ‘Connecting the Culm Project’
including a timetable

·Evaluation of performance data in relation to
Economic Projects

·Report from the Car Parking Working Group with their
recommendations

·Initiatives for Tiverton Town Centre
Regeneration.

·Crediton Park Project

The
Group requested that consideration be given to condensing the
Economic Projects report with only the key highlights being brought
forward for Members attention and discussion. The Chairman also
requested that agenda items be time limited where possible in
future.